


Never Hurt a Fly

by jacquelee



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-24
Updated: 2018-02-24
Packaged: 2019-03-23 14:14:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 985
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13789428
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jacquelee/pseuds/jacquelee
Summary: Sara finds out that Nyssa has never hurt a fly, literally, a revelation that surprises her greatly – for obvious reasons.





	Never Hurt a Fly

**Author's Note:**

> Written for [monthlysupergo](https://monthlysupergo.dreamwidth.org) for the character madlibs prompt "1 is surprised that 3 has never [fill in the blank]", the characters being Sara and Nyssa. 
> 
> This prompt posed a challenge because I just couldn't come up with something that would work for this pairing, but after a lot of brainstorming with the awesome [facethestrange](http://archiveofourown.org/users/facethestrange) I finally got this idea and I really like it.

Sara couldn't sleep. Of course, in the few weeks since she had been accepted into the League of Assassins, she had never really slept very soundly anyways, but this time it was not the constant pain from training or the thought of having to kill people that kept her up, no, it was something much more mundane. 

A fly was buzzing around her head, keeping her up with the constant sound and the lingering fear that it would land on her, crawling on her skin with those tiny, sharp legs. The thought alone kept her awake and every time the buzzing came close again, she held her breath, her heart rate going up, adrenaline coursing through her body. 

At some point she gave up on even trying to sleep and climbed out of bed to try and squash the fly, knowing that she wouldn't be able to go back to sleep as long as it was in the room. 

She tried to be as quiet as possible, not to wake Nyssa up, whose presence in her bed had become more and more a nightly occurrence. When she got up carefully, Nyssa stirred but just rolled over onto her other side and continued sleeping. 

Sara focused her attention back on the matter at hand. It wasn't completely dark in the room, as the constant presence of light was thought by the league to be the best defense against any surprises. Not that there were any possibilities of surprises here in Nanda Parbat, but Sara assumed that it was just one of those things. 

In the light of the few lamps and with the aid of her senses that she had been trained to use in a much more focused way than before in these last few weeks, she followed the fly through the room.

She had taken a book from her nightstand, a heavy volume on Arabic grammar, and with it in hand, she concentrated on the fly, waiting for it to land on the wall or another surface so that she could squash it.

Finally it seemed to settle right next to the bed and with a short glance to Nyssa, who seemed to be still sound asleep, Sara lifted her arm triumphantly, and slammed down the book on that annoying little insect that kept her awake. 

Except that right before she could hit it, her arm was stopped by a vice like grip. Confused for a moment and disappointed as she saw the fly buzz away, she looked at the hand that was holding her and then at Nyssa's face. 

There was no hint of sleep there, as always, the assassin going from completely asleep to fully awake in less than a second. But Sara couldn't understand the frown she saw. 

"Damn, I nearly had it." 

"What are you doing?" 

The frown was still there, though now there was also the smallest hint of a smile curling on Nyssa's lips, as always when Sara used swear words casually. Sara put the book on the nightstand and plopped down on the bed next to Nyssa. 

"That fly was bugging me for ages. I just wanted to get rid of it so that I could sleep." 

This time the frown just got deeper and there was no hint of any smile on Nyssa's face anymore, just confusion and something else, something that Sara had never seen and couldn't readily identify.

"You were going to kill a fly?" 

"Yeah, of course. Why wouldn't I?" Looking at Nyssa, it was now Sara who was confused. Why would she not kill a fly? After all, it was just a fly. "Nyssa? What is going on?" 

Still refusing to look at her, Nyssa seemed to be holding back some great emotions. Sara had never seen her like this, usually she was always very calm and collected. After a moment, Nyssa looked up at her, with what seemed like tears forming in her eyes. 

"Why would you harm a fly?" 

"Okay, wait, you are… I mean, you kill people. For a living. But you don't hurt flies? Really?" Sara's confusion reached a new level when she saw the truth plainly in Nyssa's face, her eyes again averting her gaze. "Are you telling me that Nyssa, daughter of Ra's Al Ghul, Heir to the Demon, has never killed a fly? Seriously?" 

Now Nyssa's stance was defensive as she sat up in bed and squared her shoulders. 

"Why would I harm an innocent insect? It has done nothing to me." 

"Well, for one, it's buzzing around the room and keeping me from sleeping, so…" Sara trailed off, realizing the very atypical insecurity that was clearly showing in Nyssa's stance. "Hey, I'm happy you don't hurt flies. It's a good thing. A very good thing. Now I'm sorry that I do, it's just that I can't sleep as long as it's flying around here." 

Finally, Nyssa looked at her.

"So catch it and take it outside." 

"Well, easier said than done." 

She hadn't even finished the sentence when Nyssa took an empty glass from the nightstand and in one fluid motion jumped up, waved the glass in front of her and then swiftly put it upside down onto the book. Looking at this display open mouthed, Sara knew without even checking what she would see inside the glass. 

Nyssa looked at her with what could only be characterized as a smirk, raising her eyebrows. 

"You were saying?" 

"Wow." Sara laughed out loud. "That was badass." 

Nyssa grinned at her, a very rare occurrence that Sara always cherished. 

"Thank you. Now, shall I release the fly in the garden so that we can go back to sleep?" 

"Please do." Nyssa took the book, carefully balancing the glass on top of it and made her way to the door. Sara smiled, looking after her. "Thank you." 

Nyssa looked back at her, returning the smile. 

"Of course."


End file.
